Using sensemaking as a lens to assess student learning on corporate social responsibility and sustainability

Prior literature suggests that teaching corporate social responsibility (CSR) and sustainability has led to little development of students’ reflexive engagement with the challenges of sustainable development. To shed light on this criticism, we apply sensemaking – as entailing the three stages of scanning for information, interpreting it and identifying alternatives of action – to CSR/sustainability education. Analysing cognitive maps of CSR, drawn by undergraduate finalists from a UK business school, we find that students are able to produce complex cognitive maps in terms of scanning for information; however, cognitive bottlenecks occur at the second and third stages of sensemaking. A key pedagogical challenge is, therefore, to support students in moving beyond scanning towards developing meaning and acting on that basis. By introducing a sensemaking lens we add to a deeper understanding of the complexities associated with CSR education as it aids (or impedes) critical engagement and action.